A drug dealer involved in a county lines drug supply network in Weymouth has been jailed for nearly five years.
Oyin Konsola Fakoya, aged 22 and of Griffin Road, Woolwich, London, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday 5 April 2019 for two offences of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.
He received a prison sentence of 58 months.
County lines networks involve urban drug dealers expanding their activities into smaller towns and rural areas with the method known as ‘cuckooing’ seeing them move into the addresses of drug users or other vulnerable people to use them as a local base to carry out their trade.
At around 11.30am on Wednesday 3 January 2018 an officer in an unmarked vehicle witnessed a suspected drugs deal taking place in a footpath near Shrubbery Lane in Weymouth. Two of those people involved were seen to return to a nearby address and Fakoya exited the premises a short time later.
An officer in a marked police van pulled up alongside the defendant to stop him and Fakoya made off. He was seen to discard a small dark-coloured object as he ran off before he was detained by officers.
A black Nokia mobile phone was discovered nearby with two sim cards inside. A second mobile phone was seized from his clothing.
The phone numbers of the sim cards were also found to be linked to a county lines network known as the ‘JJ’ network and analysis revealed messages apparently related to the supply of drugs.
Police enquiries showed that Fakoya was in control of the phone lines from at least the beginning of December 2017 until his arrest.
Detective Sergeant Andy Marsh, of Weymouth CID, said: “We are committed to tackling the activities of county lines drugs gangs who come into our communities to deal drugs and exploit vulnerable people.
“Through our proactive police work we have been able to identify Fakoya as someone involved in one of these networks and bring him to justice.
“We know that county lines is not an issue that can be solved by police efforts alone and will continue to work with our partner agencies and our communities to tackle the issue and send a clear message to these drugs gangs that they are not welcome in our area.”
If you have any information about suspected drug related activity or if you have concerns about vulnerable people who are potentially being exploited, contact Dorset Police at www.dorset.police.uk, via email [email protected] or by calling 101. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org.
More information on county lines can be found on our website at www.dorset.police.uk/county-lines.
